Brands killing it online

Richard Knowles posted on 14 October 2022

In the UK we’re undergoing intense pressures in all parts of our lives, and seemingly many are simply out of our control.

While doom and gloom might be all around our daily lives, it doesn’t take much to find fun and rewarding initiatives that brands are helping deliver to us all.

Whether that’s the use of Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, TikTok or Instagram, or intentional OOH advertising, which brands are proving to be most successful?

Here’s just a couple of examples.

Aldi

This year Aldi became one of the Big Four supermarkets, replacing Morrison’s. That’s no mean feat considering it’s been traditionally known as a discounter brand.

The success is in no small part to its brand development, but also its online presence and fun social media posts.

Aldi has been one of those brands that just know how to hook customers from rivals, create a buzz with content and even some notoriety by consistently posting fresh content that amuse, intrigues and inspires new and old followers to interact with and share information

Aldi is adding more than a billion pounds of sales a year at their current rate of growth, but they don’t have it all their own way.

With the price gap not as big as it used to be compared to rivals, Aldi is relying on its online presence to boost growth, which is why its continued growth is so impressive. 

The social ‘arguments’ with M&S over the Colin and Cuthbert cakes has led to huge engagement online, and also an impact on both brand value and sales.

I know myself that it’s led to me using Aldi for birthday cakes for my children, not just because of this, but because they actually taste good.

The engagement from fun social posts was incredible and even led to a trending hashtag in #FreeCuthbert.

The social posts eventually led to a court case, but not before Aldi had lots of fun with Cuthbert and seemingly knowing the attention it was creating would be worth the court fees.

This must have been one of the reasons why Aldi is pinching online sales from rivals.

While Asda and Morrison’s are the biggest losers in this battle, Sainsbury’s and Tesco are losing out significant figures too.

Aldi was once seen as the ‘cheap and low-quality’ supermarket is now such a rival, both in store and online, that the ‘big boys’ are now directly targeting them with in-store and online marketing.

But for Aldi they’ve already won the war, and can now pick their battles with their rivals.

Amazon

The online retail giant is just that, a giant online compared to any of its rivals in the UK.

Sales are more than double that of its nearest rival, Tesco, and there’s seemingly no stopping it.

How does it continually grow and deliver value for money to its customers and suppliers?

Amazon uses a fairly simple strategy for its online marketing and does it so well that others try and emulate it.

They ensure all customer communications touchpoints are marketed too efficiently, and in a timely manner that ensure new and repeat customers.

It also helps cross selling and is a huge reason why suppliers constantly want to be on its platform.

So what is it? Well it’s simply the RACE Framework:

• Reach: Amazon’s initial business growth based on a detailed approach to SEO and AdWords targeting millions of keywords.
• Act: Creating clear and simple experiences through testing and learning.
• Convert: Using personalization to make relevant recommendations and a clear checkout process that many now imitate.
• Engage: Amazon’s customer-centric culture delights customers and keeps them coming back for more.

This analysis is thanks to Smart Insights, but clearly demonstrates why Amazon continues to smash it online and be an example for how simplistic and consumer-focussed marketing and communication can deliver huge success.

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